Out of the Flames: Fires and Fire Fighting on the Canadian Prairies

W.J.C. Cherwinski is a professor of history at Memorial University of
Newfoundland and the co-author of Lectures in Canadian Labour and
Working-Class History.

For prairie dwellers, and especially those residing in the southern
parts of the region, fire was both the most essential of friends for
sustaining life during the brutal winters and the most terrifying of
foes when out of control. This book traces the history of uncontrolled
fires in the region from the presettlement period, through the rapid
expansion of the European presence before the Great Depression, to the
modern period when fire became the bane of the petroleum industry.

According to Holt, fires started from a number of sources: lightning
strikes, settlers careless with open flames or intent on controlling
insects with smudge fires, buffalo bone collectors, railway engines, or
everyday arsonists. The hot dry summers and relentless winds fanned the
flames across vast stretches of territory. In the hundreds of hamlets,
villages, and towns that sprang up along the railways, the buildings
were usually wooden structures, which meant that entire blocks could be
consumed in a few hours. The fear of fire helped shape the nature of
prairie society in that municipal organizations were formed to finance
the drilling of wells for water and to establish fire departments.

Out of the Flames tells a number of good stories, but it lacks an
analytical dimension, which could have been explored through the use of
the copious documentary resources available at a half-dozen archives
throughout the region.